Recreating the Masculine Identity and Gaining Social Acceptance in the Process of Men’s Remarriage

Divorce is a challenging process that affects a person's life in various psychological, emotional, social and economic dimensions. The purpose of this study is to identify and analyze the process of remarriage formation in men and their interpretations of the causes and contexts of remarriage after divorce, which was implemented qualitatively by grounded theory method. Fifteen men living in Isfahan who had divorce experience and then remarried were purposefully selected by theoretical sampling method. Data were collected through in-depth interviews and analyzed by open, axial and selective coding methods. The core category is the "crisis of individual and social identities", which was obtained from a combination of 19 main categories. In other words, men after divorceface identity challenges in the individual and social dimensions, which provide the conditions and grounds for men’s remarriage. Findings showed that men after divorce, due to normative-value expectations and existing gender structures in the society, saw themselves in the opposite direction of the normal situation. Following this event and the challenges created in the individual and collective dimensions of identity, remarriage has been adopted as an effective solution to recreate masculinity and enjoy social re-acceptance.